No Sympathy for Teens Who Tortured and Baked a Puppy

Two brothers who admitted torturing and killing a small puppy by baking it to death inside a gas oven will serve 10 years in prison.

Some people believe that is 10 years too much, that they should have been given some slap on the wrist. Short of a public tarring and feathering, I cannot imagine a sentence more appropriatee.

Justin and Joshua Moulder, who essentially threw themselves on the mercy of the court with guilty pleas to nine felony counts, found little sympathy from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore at a three-hour sentencing hearing last month.

She described the acts the boys pleaded guilty to — taking the puppy and smearing paint on it, trying to set it on fire, hog tying its feet with duct tape and binding its snout before stuffing it into a searing hot gas oven — as "malicious, unbridled cruelty."

"The way we treat animals, the way we treat the least of these is a reflection of society," Moore said.
"We will not tolerate this conduct as human beings."

Moore sentenced the brothers, ages 19 and 17 and with lengthy juvenile records, to the maximum on several counts, merging the times in jail for a final sentence of 10 years in prison, plus 10 years of probation. The felony animal cruelty charge carried a maximum of 5 years in prison. However, the time in jail increased because of charges for burglary, criminal damage to property and child cruelty.

The sentence matched the recommendation of prosecutors. Defense lawyers asked for six months in prison plus four and a half years on probation. The brothers could have been given as many as 90 years in jail.

A few years ago, I would not have paid much attention to this story. I thought of myself as not into pets and not into children, either. But I’m the homework lady and the cookie lady and the Christmas tree lady to kids in my ambit these days. AND, I am the mama cat to Frank Sinatra and Sammie Dee, who I adopted six and five years ago, respectively. They were throw-aways. Now they are two of the most pampered pussies you can imagine this side of what Al Sharpton or Donald Trump can afford.

We share this Earth with all manner of creatures. Some of us like to think of humans as shepherds over God’s flock. These Moulder brothers, and perhaps other members of their family, violated the unspoken covenant we have with our fellow creatures – human and otherwise.

Let’s hope they figure that out while behind bars. In the meantime, the rest of US can do something about abused and neglected animals by contributing to the ASPCA (www.myaspca.org; 888-776-01111).